"OCO" 2003 Obituary

O'CONNELL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-08-14 published
O'CONNELL,
TheHonourableMartin, Ph.D. (Privy Councilor)
Born on August 1, 1916 in Victoria, Martin
O'CONNELL passed away
in Toronto, on Monday, August 11, 2003. He died peacefully with
his family at his side after a fight with Parkinson's disease.
Martin believed in serving the public, giving back to his country
and advancing the cause of those who where not as fortunate.
Throughout his full and varied life the principals of honesty,
fairness, justice and humility, treating others with dignity
and respect, always guided him as he set about distinguishing
himself as a man to be honoured.
He leaves his wife
HelenAliceO'CONNELL (born
DIONNE) with whom
he celebrated 58 years of marriage. Their love and dedication
to each other was a model for all who knew them.
He also leaves his daughter Caryn (John
JOHNSTON) and their two
sons Nicholas and Kyle, his son John Martin (Martine
BOUCHARD)
and their two children Jean Christophe and Stéphanie. His children,
their spouses and grandchildren were the pride of his life.
A brother Monsignor Michael
O'CONNELL of Victoria and a sister
Ellen RICHERT (widowed) of Saskatoon survive him. A sister Dr.
Sheila O'CONNELL of Victoria and a brother Sgt. Johnny
O'CONNELL
who was killed in the battle for Caen in June 1944 predecease
him.
Martin O'CONNELL started his career as a public school teacher
in the British Columbia school system then completed a B.A. at
Queen's University. As a veteran of the second world war (Captain,
Royal Canadian Army Service Corp) he completed his education
at the University of Toronto with an M.A. then PhD in political
economy. His PhD dissertation studied the nationalism of Henri
BOURASSA. He learned French so that he could read the documents
and study the Bourassa archives in Ottawa and Montreal. Martin
served on the Senate of the University of Toronto.
He left the academic world for the financial one and joined Harris
and Partners in the late 1950's. In 1965, while on loan to Walter
GORDON then Minister of Finance and as one of the three ''Whiz
Kids'', he helped design policies, which ultimately led to the
Canada Pension Plan, Medicare, and the Municipal Loan Development
Fund.
Throughout the 1960's he served as the President of the Indian
and Eskimo Association. During this time, he wrote many policy
papers to improve aboriginal conditions and thus helped to bring
attention to the difficulty that indigenous peoples where suffering.
In 1965 he ran for Parliament and failed to win a seat in Greenwood,
he tried again in the federal riding of Scarborough East in 1968
and was elected. He was appointed Minister of State and later
Minister of Labour in the Trudeau cabinet. He was co-chairman
of the important hearings that shaped the immigration policies
of this country. Defeated in 1972 he served as the Prime Minister's
principal secretary throughout the minority years reshaping that
office to bring the Party closer to the grass roots of Canadian
society.
He was reelected in the 1974 election. He chaired the policy
committee of two national conventions of the Liberal party and
rejoined the cabinet as Minister of Labour late in that mandate.
Defeated in 1979 he retired from politics and became Chairman
of the Canadian Center For Occupational Health and Safety an
entity he created while Minister of Labour.
In 1993 he was the Co-Founder and first Co-Chairman of The Canadian
Foundation for the Preservation of Chinese Cultural and Historical
Treasures. He served actively in this role and experienced real
pleasure and pride in participating in this extraordinary work.
His many Friends will want to celebrate the life of a man who
gave real meaning to the words service, integrity and honourable.
He is remembered as one who pursued a life that was full and
dedicated to improving the life of all Canadians. May he rest
in peace.
A private family funeral will be held. All Friends are welcome
to a celebration of Martin's life at the Granite Club on Bayview
Avenue, Toronto on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 from 3 p.m. to
5 p.m.
Donations can be made to The Honorable Martin and Helen O'Connell
Charitable Foundation can be sent in trust to his son John Martin
O'CONNELL at 200 Bay Street, Suite 3900, Toronto, Ontario M5J
2J2.

O'CONNELL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-09-22 published
Quiet minister a Trudeau stalwart
Former Bay Street whiz kid helped revamp Canada's social safety
net and served as both secretary of state and labour minister
By Ron CSILLAGSpecial to The Globe and Mail Monday, September
22, 2003 - Page R7
His children possess no qualms about pronouncing Martin
O'CONNELL
as having been a bit of a policy wonk. "Oh, totally," says his
son John.
"My dad wasn't interested in money -- odd, given his Bay Street
successes. Just policy, and formulating policy."
"He was a classic workaholic," concurs Mr.
O'CONNELL's daughter
Caryn. "He was just driven by his work. It's one of the things
that kept him going."
Rare is the politician remembered for self-effacing skills and
effectiveness rather than bombast. Mr.
O'CONNELL was indeed serious
and conscientious. He worked hard and achieved much. But of all
the cabinet ministers from the Pierre
TRUDEAU era, his name probably
rings the quietist bell for Canadians old enough to recall names
like Don Jamieson, Otto Lang and Marc Lalonde.
Mr. O'CONNELL, who died in Toronto on August 11 at 87 of complications
from Parkinson's disease, served as Canada's labour minister
on two separate occasions, and was Mr.
TRUDEAU's principal secretary
for two years when Trudeaumania had been replaced by the infuriation
of millions with Canada's philosopher-king.
How does one keep a low profile in federal politics, especially
in a contentious cabinet post? Mr.
O'CONNELL did it by guiding
the country with a steady hand through great labour turbulence
in the early 1970s, including convincing his boss to pass emergency
legislation that terminated work stoppages at the Vancouver and
Montreal dockyards.
"He was an exceptionally low-key guy. He liked it that way,"
recalls Barney
DANSON, who served as Minister of National Defence
in the Trudeau cabinet. Doubtless Mr.
TRUDEAU saw in Mr.
O'CONNELL
a kind of kinship. Both men were unflappable philosophers and
academics at heart who entered politics relatively late in life,
both sacrificing cushier lives to hasten Mr.
TRUDEAU's vaunted
"just society."
For Mr. O'CONNELL, the bug bit in 1965 when he and two other
Bay Street whiz kids were summoned to Ottawa by then finance
minister Walter
GORDON -- still stinging from a disastrous budget
two years earlier -- to help revamp Canada's social safety net.
The group ultimately designed policies that led to the Canada
Pension Plan, the Municipal Loan Development Fund and medicare.
Martin Patrick
O'CONNELL was one of four children born in Victoria
to a mother from Ontario and a horticulturist father from County
Kerry in Ireland who farmed a few acres and raised livestock.
Mr. O'CONNELL taught elementary school for six years and completed
a B.A. at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, before beginning
a wartime stint in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps and
Infantry Regiment. Haunted perhaps by the death of his brother
Johnny, cut down in the battle for Caen, France, in June, 1944,
Mr. O'CONNELL volunteered for action in the Pacific just as the
fighting ceased.
It was while in uniform that he met his future wife of 58 years,
Helen Alice
DIONNE.
The two met at the Art Gallery of Ontario
while Mr. O'CONNELL was on leave from his base, and Ms.
DIONNE
was volunteering at the museum.
He spent the decade after the war at the University of Toronto,
earning graduate degrees in economics and political science and
lecturing on Plato, John Stuart Mill and liberal democratic principles.
He had learned French for his doctoral thesis on Henri Bourassa,
one of the first scholarly studies in English on the fiery Quebec
journalist and Canadian nationalist.
Academia gave way to Bay Street, where Mr.
O'CONNELL spent 11
years in investing and bond underwriting while heading the volunteer
Indian and Eskimo Association of Canada, as it was then called,
where he represented aboriginal concerns to governments and encouraged
the devolution of federal powers to native groups.
He had run and lost in 1965 in the federal seat of Greenwood
in Toronto but was swept up in the 1968 Trudeau whirlwind, winning
the seat of Scarborough East. In 1971, he was named Secretary
of State, and was appointed Labour Minister the following year,
just before Mr.
TRUDEAU called an election that ended in a minority
Liberal government. Mr.
O'CONNELL, like 46 other Grit members
of parliament, was defeated.
But he bounced back as Mr.
TRUDEAU's principal secretary for
those two lean minority years between 1972 and 1974. Mr.
O'CONNELL
laid the groundwork for Mr.
TRUDEAU's first official visit to
the People's Republic of China in 1973 and was instrumental in
establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. (His interest
in China would later find expression in his role as co-chair
of the Canadian Foundation for the Preservation of Chinese Cultural
and Historical Treasures.)
Mr. O'CONNELL also reshaped the Prime Minister's Office in an
effort to bring the party closer to the grassroots of Canadian
society.
The 1974 general election returned a majority Liberal government
and Mr. O'CONNELL as the Member of Parliament for Scarborough
East. In 1978, he was back as Labour Minister.
Around the cabinet table, "he wasn't terribly assertive," recalls
Mr. DANSON. "He only spoke when he knew what he was talking about."
During question period, "he was logical and solid. He was never
asked the same question twice. He exuded integrity."
Mr. O'CONNELL lost to Tory Gordon
GILCHRIST in the 1979 and 1980
elections (the latter by 511 votes) and he took no pleasure in
Mr. GILCHRIST's resignation of the seat in 1984 after a tax-evasion
conviction.
Mr. O'CONNELL took a stab at the presidency of the Liberal Party,
losing by two just votes. Despite the lack of backing by old
Friends, he took the losses gracefully, saying they were part
of politics. "They all say that," remarked Mr.
O'CONNELL's long-time
friend David
GOLDBERG. "He took it stoically, but hard."
He bid politics farewell and returned to the private sector as
a consultant to government agencies and corporations. The only
time his name was ever remotely linked to controversy was in
1983. He was acting as a consultant to multinational drug companies
when he was hired by the government to consult on legislation
the companies wanted repealed. Mr.
O'CONNELL disclosed his role
with the drug companies immediately, and Ottawa explained he
was tapped precisely because he knew his way around the industry.
He was a taciturn man but prescient when he pronounced, in 1984,
that tobacco smoke was a legitimate health problem in the workplace.
As head of the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety,
Mr. O'CONNELL commented on the recently changed Canada Labour
Code: "My own feeling is that the right to refuse work is an
essential right, ... personally, I wouldn't think it would be
an abuse [of the legislation] to refuse work because of tobacco
smoke.''
Mr. O'CONNELL's daughter Caryn recalls somewhat ruefully that
as a child she would sometimes hesitate to tell her Friends'
parents about what her father did for a living, fearing a typical
tirade about Mr.
TRUDEAU.
"But my Dad really was different," she recalls. "He may not have
been as colourful [as other politicians] but he taught us to
play fair and to accept defeat. He taught us the values of honesty,
tolerance, patience and the concept of justice. But we never
felt pressured. He never force-fed us. I think he was the rare
person who entered politics to do good."
Mr. O'CONNELL leaves his wife, children, a brother, sister, four
grandchildren and something rare indeed: a good name.

O'CONNOR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-02-07 published
The unsung hero of Walkerton
The public-health inspector issued a boil-water advisory and
personally drove samples to a distant lab as the crisis unfolded
By Allison
LAWLORFriday,February 7, 2003, Page R13
David PATTERSON, the public-health inspector who sounded alarm
bells about tainted water in Walkerton, Ontario, where seven
people died of E. coli poisoning in May, 2000, has died. He was
He died of rare complications related to rheumatoid arthritis,
said his wife, Sharon Patterson.
"He was extremely dedicated. I feel he gave his life to public
health for 33 years," said Jim
PATON, the Grey Bruce Health Unit's
director of health protection and Mr.
PATTERSON's long-time colleague
and friend. Mr.
PATTERSON worked at the health unit for 30 years.
He retired just a few months after the E. coli tragedy hit the
Western Ontario town.
"He has been described as the unsung hero of Walkerton," Mr.
PATON said.
When a worried local doctor alerted him about cases of diarrhea
in people from Walkerton, Mr.
PATTERSON launched the initial
investigation to determine the cause of the illness.
Although he initially suspected a problem with bad food, the
common source for E. coli infections, Mr.
PATTERSON also called
the manager of the municipal water supply and asked if there
were any problems with the water. The manager, Stan
KOEBEL, repeatedly
assured him that the town's drinking water was fine.
As the illness spread through the community, Mr.
PATTERSON became
convinced that the municipal water supply was the only plausible
source of the infection.
He quickly wrote out a boil-water advisory for the town on the
afternoon of May 21, 2000, the Sunday of the Victoria Day weekend.
The advisory, urging residents to boil their tap water, was not
lifted until December 5, 2000.
Later on May 21, Mr.
PATTERSON and his wife drove 21 samples
of Walkerton water to a laboratory in London, Ontario, arriving
after midnight. On their trip home, in the dead of night, they
almost hit a deer.
Tests confirmed that the municipal water system was contaminated
with E. coli and fecal coliform bacteria.
"It was just astounding what that man did," said Dr. Murray
McQUIGGE,
the former medical officer of health at the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
Health Unit, who left the health unit in March, 2002. (The health
unit changed its name in 2001.)
In addition to the seven people who died from the E. coli infection,
2,500 people in Walkerton became ill, some seriously.
"I believe he did the very best he could have under the circumstances,"
Bruce DAVIDSON of the group Concerned Walkerton Citizens said.
Mr. PATTERSON confronted Mr.
KOEBEL to find out what had gone
wrong. The details of how Walkerton's water became contaminated
with E. coli were revealed at a public inquiry that opened in
the town in October, 2000, five months after the contamination
came to light.
"When Mr. KOEBEL learned from test results for the samples collected
on May 15 that there was a high level of contamination in the
system, he did not disclose the results to the health officials
in the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Health Unit who were investigating
the outbreak of illnesses in the community. Instead, he misled
them by assuring them that the water was safe," Mr. Justice Dennis
O'CONNOR wrote in Part 1 of his report of the Walkerton inquiry.
Mr. PATTERSON's meticulous record-keeping and detailing of the
events around the tragedy proved to be a valuable source of information
at the inquiry. In the first weekend that the water crisis unfolded,
he compiled close to 80 pages of notes, documenting the times
and contents of each conversation he had, Mr.
PATON said.
While Mr. PATTERSON was scheduled to take early retirement in
the fall of 2000, he remained with the health unit on contract
to help with the exhaustive inquiry. Taking the stand at the
inquiry was emotionally difficult for Mr.
PATTERSON, particularly
when lawyers tried to attack his credibility.
"He was a gentleman during the inquiry," Dr.
McQUIGGE said, adding
that his colleague often had to bite his tongue.
A quiet and private person, Mr.
PATTERSON didn't seek the spotlight
and said little to the mews media during and after the inquiry.
"Walkerton took its toll on everybody," Dr.
McQUIGGE said. "It
was tremendously taxing."
David PATTERSON was born on November 2, 1950, in Owen Sound,
Ontario He was the second of four children to Fred and Mary
PATTERSON.
He was raised in the small community of Tara, south of Owen Sound,
where he also raised his family. His father owned a business
installing tile drainage for local farmers. As a teenager, Mr.
PATTERSON worked with his father during the summers.
It was as a young teen that he developed his lifelong hobby of
restoring old cars to mint condition; most of them were 1932-34
Fords. He enjoyed taking his cars out to local fairs and other
events and last fall chauffeured his daughter to her wedding
in one.
After graduating from Chesley District High School, he attended
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, where he studied
public-health inspection. He graduated in 1970, and the same
year passed the tests to become a certified public-health inspector.
That year, he also married his high-school sweetheart Sharon.
They had two children.
Mr. PATTERSON started work at the age of 19 at the health unit
in Owen Sound, where he worked the length of his public-health
career.
He began as a public-health inspector and was promoted to a supervisory
position first in 1982 and then in 1989, when he became assistant
director of health protection with the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
Health Unit.
In the mid-1990s, Mr.
PATTERSON and the health unit were involved
in a high-profile court case in which they took a local farmer
to court for selling unpasteurized milk. Mr.
PATTERSON couldn't
stand the thought that people could be put at undue risk for
drinking the unpasteurized milk, Dr.
McQUIGGE said.
"This [public health] was his calling," Dr.
McQUIGGE said. "He
was passionate about it."
After the Walkerton inquiry wrapped up, Mr.
PATTERSON left the
health unit and went to work for the local conservation authority
reviewing people's applications for government grants to improve
their water systems.
Mr. PATTERSON preferred life in small-town Ontario to that in
a big city. He enjoyed the outdoors and frequently went on canoeing,
hiking and hunting trips with his family.
"He felt strongly about protecting the outdoors," said Sharon,
his wife. "He was just a very dedicated person -- he really believed
in things."
Mr. PATTERSON leaves his wife, son Michael, daughter April and
his parents.
David PATTERSON, born on November 2, 1950, in Owen Sound, Ontario,
died on January 10, 2003, in Owen Sound.

O'CONNOR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-02-24 published
O'CONNOR,
PatriciaHeatherington
On February 20th, 2003 at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, in
her 72nd year. Predeceased by parents S.A.B. '' Mac'' and Eva
McCLEARY.
Will be sadly missed by children Kathleen ''Katie''
THOMAS
(Crista,)
John ''Sandy'' (Pam) and Patrick (Kathy) and
by their father T.G. ''Jerry''
O'CONNOR. Survived by grandchildren
Allison, Dustin and Trevor; Corey, Cody and Kasey. Also survived
by sister Mary (Myles
ALLISON,)
Joan
(TimHEIBERG) and Margaret
(Peter MORGAN,) by nieces Jeanne, Kathinca and Janikka, nephews
Jonathan and Timothy. Friends may call at the Morley Bedford
Funeral Home, 159 Eglinton Avenue West (2 lights west of Yonge
Street), on Tuesday, 5-8 p.m. Service in the Chapel on Wednesday,
1: 00 p.m. Interment in the family plot, St. Jude's Cemetery,
Oakville. In lieu of flowers, a memorial contribution may be
made to the Salvation Army either by telephone 1-888-321-3433
or by mail, 2 Overlea Blvd., Toronto, M4H 1P4

O'CONNOR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-10 published
O'NEILL, Reverend Desmond Michael, After a long and courageous battle
with cancer, Father
O'NEILL died on April 8, 2003, in the 44th
year of his priesthood. He was the
son of the late Leo
O'NEILL
and the late Agnes
O'CONNOR. He was brother to sister Eileen
BRADLEY (deceased.) He is survived by his sister Helen and brothers
George and Frank (and his wife Pat). Funeral arrangements by
R.S. Kane Funeral Home. Visitation at Saint Margaret of Scotland
Church on Friday, April 11 from 2 to 9 p.m. and
on Saturday,
April 12 from 10 to 11 a.m. Funeral Mass on Saturday, April 12,
2003 at 11 a.m. at Saint Margaret of Scotland Church, 222 Ridley
Blvd., Toronto. Interment in the Priest's Plot at St. Augustine
Seminary. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Princess
Margaret Hospital or the Canadian Cancer Society.

O'CONNOR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-26 published
O'CONNOR,
AudreyAlbina (née
McAULEY)
Died peacefully at sunrise on May 23, 2003, having just turned
83. Survived by her loving daughter Susan
O'CONNOR, son-in-law
Ken WAXMAN, and her sister Gretchen
MacFARLANE
(Murray) of Saint
John, New Brunswick Fondly remembered by her dear friend Marguerite
GULDE
(Hans,) and her late brother Vincent's children. Predeceased
by her husband Leo
O'CONNOR.
Born in Centreville, New Brunswick,
Audrey lived for many years in Ottawa until moving to Toronto
in 1964. An enthusiastic traveller and creative, independent
spirit, Audrey was the first of her contemporaries to return
to the workforce in the early 1960s. Originally a teacher in
a one-room schoolhouse, Audrey worked for many years in royalties
administration for two major record companies. After ''retirement''
she held several jobs, but particularly enjoyed one with a small
property management company. Cremation has taken place. Friends
are invited to celebrate Audrey's life with Ken and Susan at
home on Tuesday, May 27 after 5 p.m. Special thanks to the thoughtful
and accommodating staff of Toronto East General Hospital (B-5)
for their care and compassion.

O'CONNOR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-31 published
BRAILEY,
F.George
March 6th, 1923 to May 29th, 2003. Died peacefully at West Park
Long Term Care Centre. George suffered from Alzheimers, and the
past year was very difficult for him as he declined so rapidly.
George leaves his loving wife of 57 years, Joyce, and two daughters,
Seonaid BRAILEY and Moira
MacRAE and her husband, Garth. He was
a wonderful Poppa to Justin
MacRAE,
KristaBRAILEY, Gail
MacRAE
(Allan LAURENT,) and Heather
MacRAE
(ChrisO'CONNOR.) George
enjoyed being Great Poppa to his precious great-granddaughter,
Jordan TUCKER-
MacRAE and great-grandchildren, Sam and Leigha
BRETT, Haley
MacRAE, Finlay and Emma
O'CONNOR and Philippe
GIGUERE.
The family is grateful to the kind and caring nurses and support
staff at West Park Long Term Care Centre for treating Dad with
gentleness and dignity. Private arrangements have been made,
however the family invites Friends to join them on Saturday,
June 7, 2003, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the home of Moira and Garth
MacRae. If you wish, a donation may be made to the Alzheimer
Society or to the charity of your choice.